Infinite Scrolling

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a client application renders a structured document in a graphical user interface, determines whether a select place marker element in the structured document is viewable within the graphical user interface; if the select place marker element is viewable, the client application retrieves and render the data object associated with the place marker element.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to rendering structureddocuments (such as web pages) and, more particularly, to efficientlyrendering structured documents with embedded objects by using placemarkers inside the structured documents for the embedded objects andretrieving the embedded objects in the structured documentsincrementally.

BACKGROUND

Many web pages contain a large number of embedded objects. For example,a photo album page in a social networking or photo sharing site can havedozens (if not hundreds) of photos, comments about the photo album fromother users, and sidebar items like friends suggestion, links to otherphoto albums and advertisements.

When a user views a web page with a large number of embedded objects inthe web page, the web browser displays only the embedded objects in thetop portion of the web page. The embedded objects in the rest of the webpage are fully displayed only when the user scrolls down the web page.Some web sites have modified the web page to detect scrolling anddisplay the embedded objects when the user scrolls. This improves thespeed of rendering the web page and the user's experience with the webpage, as the embedded objects are not rendered unless the user scrollsdown to view them. However, the scroll bar of the web browser does notaccurately reflect the full length of the web page as the scroll baronly accounts for the portion of the web page that is fully rendered atany given time. That is, as the newly retrieved objects are embedded inthe page, the overall size of the web page changes, which causes thesize and location of either or both of the horizontal and verticalscroll bars to change.

SUMMARY

Particular embodiments relate to efficiently rendering a structureddocument with embedded objects by using place markers in the structureddocument for a subset of the embedded objects and retrieving theembedded objects in the structured documents incrementally in responseto user input. The place markers include one or more attributes thatcause the full size of the structured document to be determined andrendered such that the scroll bar of a client application that displaysthe structured document does not change as new embedded objects areadded into the structured document. These and other features, aspects,and advantages of the disclosure are described in more detail below inthe detailed description and in conjunction with the following figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate an example of a photo album web page.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example method for rendering a structured documentin a graphical user interface with place markers.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example network environment.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example computer system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is now described in detail with reference to a fewembodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are set forth in orderto provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. It isapparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the presentdisclosure may be practiced without some or all of these specificdetails. In other instances, well known process steps and/or structureshave not been described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscurethe present disclosure. In addition, while the disclosure is describedin conjunction with the particular embodiments, it should be understoodthat this description is not intended to limit the disclosure to thedescribed embodiments. To the contrary, the description is intended tocover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be includedwithin the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appendedclaims.

A web application is an application that may be accessed via a webbrowser or other client application over a network, or a computersoftware application that is coded in a web browser-supported languageand reliant on a web browser to render the application executable. Webapplications have gained popularity largely as a result of the ubiquityof web browsers, the convenience of using a web browser launched at aremote computing device as a client (sometimes referred to as a thinclient), and the corresponding ability to update and maintain webapplications without distributing and installing software on remoteclients. Often, to implement a web application, the web applicationrequires access to one or more resources provided at a backend server ofan associated website. Additionally, web applications often requireaccess to additional resources associated with other applications.

A resource or page, which may itself include multiple embeddedresources, may include data records, such as content plain textualinformation, or more complex digitally encoded multimedia content, suchas software programs or other code objects, graphics, images, audiosignals, videos, and so forth. One prevalent markup language forcreating web pages is the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Other commonweb browser-supported languages and technologies include the ExtensibleMarkup Language (XML), the Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML),JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), and, frequently, Java. By wayof example, HTML enables a page developer to create a structureddocument by denoting structural semantics for text and links, as well asimages, web applications and other objects that can be embedded withinthe page. Generally, a web page may be delivered to a client as a staticdocument, however, through the use of web elements embedded in the page,an interactive experience may be achieved with the page or a sequence ofpages. During a user session at the client, the web browser interpretsand displays the pages and associated resources received or retrievedfrom the website hosting the page, as well as, potentially, resourcesfrom other websites.

JavaScript is an example of a scripting language that enables variousweb applications to access resources within other applications for useon the client side of a user session to enable an interactive or dynamicuser session when accessing a website. AJAX (shorthand for AsynchronousJavaScript and XML) refers to a group of interrelated techniques used onthe client side of a user session to enable more interactive and richinternet applications. Utilizing JavaScript or AJAX, a web applicationcan transmit requests for resources to the backend servers of thewebsite or other resource providers external to the website in order toretrieve the resources asynchronously in the background operations ofthe client without interfering with the display and behavior of thecurrently-rendered page. More particularly, when using AJAX, resourcesare usually retrieved by transmitting an XMLHttpRequest (XHR) object tothe resource provider. An XHR is a document object model (DOM)application programming interface (API) that can be used with a webbrowser scripting language (e.g., JavaScript) to send, for example, anHTTP or HTTPS request for a resource directly to a web server and loadthe resource retrieved from the server in response to the requestdirectly back into the scripting language code. Once the resource iswithin the code, the resource may then be available as, by way ofexample, an HTML or XML document or plain text. In this manner, theretrieved resource may be used to manipulate the currently activedocument rendered by the web browser without requiring the client toload a new webpage document. In some example embodiments, if theresource is retrieved as plain text, the plain text may be formatted inJavaScript Object Notation (JSON) by the server and evaluated withinJavaScript to create an object of data for use on the current DOM.

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate an example of a photo album web page thatincorporates an embodiment of the present invention. The photo album webpage contains many embedded objects, e.g., dozens of photos, comments tothe photos, and side-bar items like video links, friend suggestions andadvertisements. Embedded objects may be multimedia objects, such asimages, videos and the like. Portion 101 shows the top portion of thepage, and portion 102 shows the bottom portion of the page. UtilizingJavaScript or AJAX, the content of a web page can be loaded and rendereddynamically. For example, when a user viewing a web page in a webbrowser window with a large number of embedded objects in the web page(e.g., the photo album web page in FIGS. 1A and 1B), only the embeddedobjects in the top portion of the web page may be retrieved by the webbrowser and fully rendered in connection with the initial page load. Theembedded objects in the rest of the web page are retrieved and renderedonly when the user scrolls down the web page. This improves the initialspeed of loading the web page and the user's experience with the webpage. However, the scroll bar of the web browser does not accuratelyreflect the full length of the web page as the scroll bar only accountsfor the portion of the web page that is fully rendered. Accordingly, asnew objects are retrieved and rendered in the web page, the size andlocation of a scroll bar of the browser will change. Particularembodiments of the invention simulate to a user the full retrieval andrendering of a web page that includes multiple embedded objects, whilestill obtaining the advantages associated with incrementally retrievingthe embedded objects. In particular embodiments, place markers in a webpage with embedded objects may enable the web browser to load the webpage with the correct scroll bar for the fully loaded page while onlyrendering the embedded objects that are viewable inside the web browserwindow.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example method for rendering a structured documentin a graphical user interface with place markers. In particularembodiments, a user may view a structured document in a graphical userinterface of a client application. In particular embodiments, the clientapplication may be a web browser and the graphical user interface may bea web browser window. In particular embodiments, the structured documentmay be a web page written in web browser-supported languages (e.g.,HTML, JavaScript, or CSS). In particular embodiments, the structureddocument may include embedded objects (e.g., photos, videos, or othermedia or code objects). In one embodiment, the embedded object may beany visual representation with a fixed object size such as a photo,video thumbnail, or icon. Etc. The structured document also includes anexecutable code object, such as a Javascript object, that executes themethod of FIG. 2 to respond to events and dynamically load embeddedobjects into the structured document for rendering by the clientapplication.

In particular embodiments, the structured document may include placemarkers. In particular embodiments, the place markers are HTML <div>elements, or separate elements of a table, having attributes that causethe final size of the structured document to be determined on initialpage load even though only a subset of the embedded objects of the pagehave been retrieved and rendered. In particular embodiments, each placemarker may correspond to an embedded object in the structured document.In particular embodiments, the structured document may have a markerlist of one or more select place markers, and each marker in the markerlist may correspond to a sub-set of the place markers or the embeddedobjects. For example, each marker in a marker list can correspond to 4,10 or 20 place markers for embedded photos in a web page. In oneimplementation, the grouping of place markers associated with a markercan be based on the layout of the structured document. For example, amarker can correspond to each row of photos (i.e., every 4 embeddedobjects) in the web page shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. Accordingly, if thereare 100 embedded photos in the web page, then the web page has a markerlist of 25 markers. In another embodiment, a marker can be identified byincluding a flag or other element in the place marker code segment. Inanother embodiment, a marker is a reference to select place markerelement in the structured document (such as the first embedded object ina row of embedded objects) and stored in the marker list as part of acode object, such as a Javascript handler function described below.

In particular embodiments, the client application may load thestructured document and render only the top portion of the structureddocument in the graphical user interface, while the scroll bar of thegraphical user interface shows as if the client application has loadedthe full content of the structured document. For example, a web browserload a web page of 100 photos, in conjunction with place markers in theweb page, the web browser renders only the first 20 photos in the webbrowser window, while showing a scroll bar as if all of the 100 photoshas been loaded by the web browser. The structured document on initialpage load, in such as embodiment, has actual source attribute referencesto the first 20 photos (causing them to be loaded on initial page load)and place markers for the remaining embedded objects.

In particular embodiments, the user may resize the graphical userinterface or scroll down or across the web page using the scroll bar ofthe graphical user interface. In particular embodiments, the user'saction in resizing and scrolling down the graphical user interface maycreate HTML events “on Resize” and “on Scroll”. In particularembodiments, on the initial page load, a code object embedded in thepage registers a handler function for the “on Resize” and “on Scroll”events generated by a client application when a user resizes theapplication window or uses a scroll bar (201). The code object alsoexecutes the handler function either before or after registering thehandler function in response to the initial page load (202). Inparticular embodiments, the handler function may also be implemented inJavaScript.

The remaining operations shown in FIG. 2 illustrate operations of thehandler function initiated in connection with an initial page load or inresponse to an on Resize or on Scroll event. In particular embodiments,the handler function, when initiated, may loop through a list of markerson a marker list (203), and examine whether the selected marker isvisible inside the graphical user interface (e.g., the web browserwindow) (204). In one implementation, the handler function may use APIcalls supported by browser client applications (such as Element View orelement position properties) to determine whether an element of thestructured document is within the currently viewable window. If themarker is visible inside the graphical user interface, then the handlerfunction may cause the client application (e.g., the web browser) toload the sub-set of the embedded objects corresponding to the markerinto the structured document (205), and remove the marker from themarker list (206). In particular embodiments, if the marker is notcurrently visible in the graphical user interface the handler functionmay inspect the marker list to see whether there are more markers in themarker list to be examined (203). In particular embodiments, the handlerfunction, after looping through the markers in the list, may determinewhether there are markers remaining in the list (207). If there are nomore markers in the marker list, the code object embedded in the pagemay remove the handler function (Step 208) as a subscriber to the onScroll and on Resize events.

By way of example and not by way of limitation, an example HTML codesegment of a structured document is provided below. The first codesegment (pre-load) is a place marker included in an element of a tablefor an embedded photo before it is loaded into the web browser window.The second example section is the place marker for the embedded photoafter it is loaded into the web browser window, with the embedded photobeing shown as a background image.

Pre-load:

  <a class=“uiMediaThumb uiMediaThumbHuge”href=“http://[HTML_hyperlink_to_a_photo]” title=“title of photo”>  <idata-src=“http://[remote_host]/photo.jpg”></i> </a>

Post-load:

<a class=“uiMediaThumb uiMediaThumbHuge”href=“http://[HTML_hyperlink_to_a_photo]” title=“title of photo”>  <istyle=“background-image: url(http://[remote_host]/photo.jpg;”></i> </a>

Each pre-load place marker element includes a fixed aspect ratio and isan element rendered by the client application within the context of thestructured document. Accordingly, even before the code object (such asan image) is actually loaded into the structured document, the finalsize of the structured document has been set. As the foregoingillustrates, the pre-load place marker code includes an URL for theembedded object as a “data-src” element, which does not cause thebrowser or client application to load the embedded object from a remotehost. When the handler function causes an embedded object to be loaded,it may change the place marker code as shown above to load the embeddedobject as a background image (background-image: url(http:// . . . ). Insome embodiments, changing the code of the structured document in thismanner causes the client application to send a request for the embeddedobject to a remote host and load in the response into the page when itis received. In particular embodiments, the embedded objects may beloaded into the structured document as background images into <div> ortable elements having a fixed aspect ratio (e.g., 100×100 pixels). Inone implementation, CSS rules declare all <i /> tags inside <aclass=“uiMediaThumb”/> tags have an aspect ratio of X by Y. Inparticular embodiments, the statically sized presentations may have afixed aspect ratio, which may be or may not be of the same aspect ratioof the source objects. For example, by loading the embedded objects asbackground images, the statically sized presentations can be 100 by 100pixels of thumbnail images of photos of various aspect ratios (e.g., 800by 600, 800 by 800). In another implementation, the aspect ration of theplace marker element may change depending on the aspect ratio of thecorresponding image. For example, at initial generation of thestructured document, a server process may access the aspect ratios ofthe embedded objects in the structured documents and size thecorresponding place marker elements accordingly. In either situation,however, since the <div> or table element place marker code (bothpre-load and post-load) has an aspect ratio that does not change, thesize or position of the scroll bar does not change as the embeddedobjects are loaded in the page.

In particular embodiments, an optimization of the foregoing handlerfunction may involve a delay to more efficiently handle situations wherea user immediately scrolls to particular section of the structureddocument (such as the end portion). In a particular implementation,after an “on Scroll” or “on Resize” event, the handler function may waitfor a prescribed period of time (such as 250 milliseconds or 500milliseconds) before executing the operations of 203 to 208. Forexample, if a user scrolls down but quickly scrolls back to the top ofthe web page, then the viewable markers within the structured documentmay not have changed. In addition, if the user quickly scrolls to thebottom of the structured document, the handler function may cause theembedded objects associated with the bottom-most marker(s) to be loadedinto the page.

An additional enhancement may involve a Javascript function that addsmore place markers for additional embedded objects when the user hasscrolled down to the end of the page. In such an embodiment, thefunction may add more embedded objects and place markers to the end ofthe structured document code and may also add more markers to the markerlist, causing the handler function to operate as discussed above inresponse to on-scroll and re-size events.

While the foregoing embodiments may be implemented in a variety ofnetwork configurations, the following illustrates an example networkenvironment for didactic, and not limiting, purposes. FIG. 3 illustratesan example network environment 300. Network environment 300 includes anetwork 310 coupling one or more servers 320 and one or more clients 330to each other. Network environment 300 also includes one or more datastorage 340 linked to one or more servers 320. Particular embodimentsmay be implemented in network environment 300. For example, directoryservice 107 and social networking system frontend 104 may be written insoftware programs hosted by one or more servers 320. For example, eventdatabase 102 may be stored in one or more storage 340. In particularembodiments, network 310 is an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a widearea network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a portion of theInternet, or another network 310 or a combination of two or more suchnetworks 310. The present disclosure contemplates any suitable network310.

One or more links 350 couple a server 320 or a client 330 to network310. In particular embodiments, one or more links 350 each includes oneor more wired, wireless, or optical links 350. In particularembodiments, one or more links 350 each includes an intranet, anextranet, a VPN, a LAN, a WLAN, a WAN, a MAN, a portion of the Internet,or another link 350 or a combination of two or more such links 350. Thepresent disclosure contemplates any suitable links 350 coupling servers320 and clients 330 to network 310.

In particular embodiments, each server 320 may be a unitary server ormay be a distributed server spanning multiple computers or multipledatacenters. Servers 320 may be of various types, such as, for exampleand without limitation, web server, news server, mail server, messageserver, advertising server, file server, application server, exchangeserver, database server, or proxy server. In particular embodiments,each server 320 may include hardware, software, or embedded logiccomponents or a combination of two or more such components for carryingout the appropriate functionalities implemented or supported by server320. For example, a web server is generally capable of hosting websitescontaining web pages or particular elements of web pages. Morespecifically, a web server may host HTML files or other file types, ormay dynamically create or constitute files upon a request, andcommunicate them to clients 330 in response to HTTP or other requestsfrom clients 330. A mail server is generally capable of providingelectronic mail services to various clients 330. A database server isgenerally capable of providing an interface for managing data stored inone or more data stores.

In particular embodiments, one or more data storages 340 may becommunicatively linked to one or more severs 320 via one or more links350. In particular embodiments, data storages 340 may be used to storevarious types of information. In particular embodiments, the informationstored in data storages 340 may be organized according to specific datastructures. In particular embodiment, each data storage 340 may be arelational database. Particular embodiments may provide interfaces thatenable servers 320 or clients 330 to manage, e.g., retrieve, modify,add, or delete, the information stored in data storage 340.

In particular embodiments, each client 330 may be an electronic deviceincluding hardware, software, or embedded logic components or acombination of two or more such components and capable of carrying outthe appropriate functions implemented or supported by client 330. Forexample and without limitation, a client 330 may be a desktop computersystem, a notebook computer system, a netbook computer system, ahandheld electronic device, or a mobile telephone. The presentdisclosure contemplates any suitable clients 330. A client 330 mayenable a network user at client 330 to access network 330. A client 330may enable its user to communicate with other users at other clients330.

A client 330 may have a web browser 332, such as MICROSOFT INTERNETEXPLORER, GOOGLE CHROME or MOZILLA FIREFOX, and may have one or moreadd-ons, plug-ins, or other extensions, such as TOOLBAR or YAHOOTOOLBAR. A user at client 330 may enter a Uniform Resource Locator (URL)or other address directing the web browser 332 to a server 320, and theweb browser 332 may generate a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)request and communicate the HTTP request to server 320. Server 320 mayaccept the HTTP request and communicate to client 330 one or more HyperText Markup Language (HTML) files responsive to the HTTP request. Client330 may render a web page based on the HTML files from server 320 forpresentation to the user. The present disclosure contemplates anysuitable web page files. As an example and not by way of limitation, webpages may render from HTML files, Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language(XHTML) files, or Extensible Markup Language (XML) files, according toparticular needs. Such pages may also execute scripts such as, forexample and without limitation, those written in JAVASCRIPT, JAVA,MICROSOFT SILVERLIGHT, combinations of markup language and scripts suchas AJAX (Asynchronous JAVASCRIPT and XML), and the like. Herein,reference to a web page encompasses one or more corresponding web pagefiles (which a browser may use to render the web page) and vice versa,where appropriate.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example computer system 400, which may be usedwith some embodiments of the present invention. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable number of computer systems 400. Thisdisclosure contemplates computer system 400 taking any suitable physicalform. As example and not by way of limitation, computer system 400 maybe an embedded computer system, a system-on-chip (SOC), a single-boardcomputer system (SBC) (such as, for example, a computer-on-module (COM)or system-on-module (SOM)), a desktop computer system, a laptop ornotebook computer system, an interactive kiosk, a mainframe, a mesh ofcomputer systems, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a server, or a combination of two or more of these. Whereappropriate, computer system 400 may include one or more computersystems 400; be unitary or distributed; span multiple locations; spanmultiple machines; or reside in a cloud, which may include one or morecloud components in one or more networks. Where appropriate, one or morecomputer systems 400 may perform without substantial spatial or temporallimitation one or more steps of one or more methods described orillustrated herein. As an example and not by way of limitation, one ormore computer systems 400 may perform in real time or in batch mode oneor more steps of one or more methods described or illustrated herein.One or more computer systems 400 may perform at different times or atdifferent locations one or more steps of one or more methods describedor illustrated herein, where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, computer system 400 includes a processor 402,memory 404, storage 406, an input/output (I/O) interface 408, acommunication interface 410, and a bus 412. Although this disclosuredescribes and illustrates a particular computer system having aparticular number of particular components in a particular arrangement,this disclosure contemplates any suitable computer system having anysuitable number of any suitable components in any suitable arrangement.

In particular embodiments, processor 402 includes hardware for executinginstructions, such as those making up a computer program. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, to execute instructions, processor 402 mayretrieve (or fetch) the instructions from an internal register, aninternal cache, memory 404, or storage 406; decode and execute them; andthen write one or more results to an internal register, an internalcache, memory 404, or storage 406. In particular embodiments, processor402 may include one or more internal caches for data, instructions, oraddresses. The present disclosure contemplates processor 402 includingany suitable number of any suitable internal caches, where appropriate.As an example and not by way of limitation, processor 402 may includeone or more instruction caches, one or more data caches, and one or moretranslation look-aside buffers (TLBs). Instructions in the instructioncaches may be copies of instructions in memory 404 or storage 406, andthe instruction caches may speed up retrieval of those instructions byprocessor 402. Data in the data caches may be copies of data in memory404 or storage 406 for instructions executing at processor 402 tooperate on; the results of previous instructions executed at processor402 for access by subsequent instructions executing at processor 402 orfor writing to memory 404 or storage 406; or other suitable data. Thedata caches may speed up read or write operations by processor 402. TheTLBs may speed up virtual-address translation for processor 402. Inparticular embodiments, processor 402 may include one or more internalregisters for data, instructions, or addresses. The present disclosurecontemplates processor 402 including any suitable number of any suitableinternal registers, where appropriate. Where appropriate, processor 402may include one or more arithmetic logic units (ALUs); be a multi-coreprocessor; or include one or more processors 402. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular processor, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable processor.

In particular embodiments, memory 404 includes main memory for storinginstructions for processor 402 to execute or data for processor 402 tooperate on. As an example and not by way of limitation, computer system400 may load instructions from storage 406 or another source (such as,for example, another computer system 400) to memory 404. Processor 402may then load the instructions from memory 404 to an internal registeror internal cache. To execute the instructions, processor 402 mayretrieve the instructions from the internal register or internal cacheand decode them. During or after execution of the instructions,processor 402 may write one or more results (which may be intermediateor final results) to the internal register or internal cache. Processor402 may then write one or more of those results to memory 404. Inparticular embodiments, processor 402 executes only instructions in oneor more internal registers or internal caches or in memory 404 (asopposed to storage 406 or elsewhere) and operates only on data in one ormore internal registers or internal caches or in memory 404 (as opposedto storage 406 or elsewhere). One or more memory buses (which may eachinclude an address bus and a data bus) may couple processor 402 tomemory 404. Bus 412 may include one or more memory buses, as describedbelow. In particular embodiments, one or more memory management units(MMUs) reside between processor 402 and memory 404 and facilitateaccesses to memory 404 requested by processor 402. In particularembodiments, memory 404 includes random access memory (RAM). This RAMmay be volatile memory, where appropriate Where appropriate, this RAMmay be dynamic RAM (DRAM) or static RAM (SRAM). Moreover, whereappropriate, this RAM may be single-ported or multi-ported RAM. Thepresent disclosure contemplates any suitable RAM. Memory 404 may includeone or more memories 404, where appropriate. Although this disclosuredescribes and illustrates particular memory, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable memory.

In particular embodiments, storage 406 includes mass storage for data orinstructions. As an example and not by way of limitation, storage 406may include an HDD, a floppy disk drive, flash memory, an optical disc,a magneto-optical disc, magnetic tape, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB)drive or a combination of two or more of these. Storage 406 may includeremovable or non-removable (or fixed) media, where appropriate. Storage406 may be internal or external to computer system 400, whereappropriate. In particular embodiments, storage 406 is non-volatile,solid-state memory. In particular embodiments, storage 406 includesread-only memory (ROM). Where appropriate, this ROM may bemask-programmed ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM),electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), electrically alterable ROM (EAROM),or flash memory or a combination of two or more of these. Thisdisclosure contemplates mass storage 406 taking any suitable physicalform. Storage 406 may include one or more storage control unitsfacilitating communication between processor 402 and storage 406, whereappropriate. Where appropriate, storage 406 may include one or morestorages 406. Although this disclosure describes and illustratesparticular storage, this disclosure contemplates any suitable storage.

In particular embodiments, I/O interface 408 includes hardware,software, or both providing one or more interfaces for communicationbetween computer system 400 and one or more I/O devices. Computer system400 may include one or more of these I/O devices, where appropriate. Oneor more of these I/O devices may enable communication between a personand computer system 400. As an example and not by way of limitation, anI/O device may include a keyboard, keypad, microphone, monitor, mouse,printer, scanner, speaker, still camera, stylus, tablet, touch screen,trackball, video camera, another suitable I/O device or a combination oftwo or more of these. An I/O device may include one or more sensors.This disclosure contemplates any suitable I/O devices and any suitableI/O interfaces 408 for them. Where appropriate, I/O interface 408 mayinclude one or more device or software drivers enabling processor 402 todrive one or more of these I/O devices. I/O interface 408 may includeone or more I/O interfaces 408, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular I/O interface, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable I/O interface.

In particular embodiments, communication interface 410 includeshardware, software, or both providing one or more interfaces forcommunication (such as, for example, packet-based communication) betweencomputer system 400 and one or more other computer systems 400 or one ormore networks. As an example and not by way of limitation, communicationinterface 410 may include a network interface controller (NIC) ornetwork adapter for communicating with an Ethernet or other wire-basednetwork or a wireless NIC (WNIC) or wireless adapter for communicatingwith a wireless network, such as a WI-FI network. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable network and any suitable communicationinterface 410 for it. As an example and not by way of limitation,computer system 400 may communicate with an ad hoc network, a personalarea network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of theInternet or a combination of two or more of these. One or more portionsof one or more of these networks may be wired or wireless. As anexample, computer system 400 may communicate with a wireless PAN (WPAN)(such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FI network, a WI-MAXnetwork, a cellular telephone network (such as, for example, a GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications (GSM) network), or other suitablewireless network or a combination of two or more of these. Computersystem 400 may include any suitable communication interface 410 for anyof these networks, where appropriate. Communication interface 410 mayinclude one or more communication interfaces 410, where appropriate.Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particularcommunication interface, this disclosure contemplates any suitablecommunication interface.

In particular embodiments, bus 412 includes hardware, software, or bothcoupling components of computer system 400 to each other. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, bus 412 may include an AcceleratedGraphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry StandardArchitecture (EISA) bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT)interconnect, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBANDinterconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, aPCI-Express (PCI-X) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA)bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, oranother suitable bus or a combination of two or more of these. Bus 412may include one or more buses 412, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular bus, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable bus or interconnect.

Herein, reference to a computer-readable storage medium encompasses oneor more non-transitory, tangible computer-readable storage mediapossessing structure. As an example and not by way of limitation, acomputer-readable storage medium may include a semiconductor-based orother integrated circuit (IC) (such, as for example, afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific IC(ASIC)), a hard disk, an HDD, a hybrid hard drive (HHD), an opticaldisc, an optical disc drive (ODD), a magneto-optical disc, amagneto-optical drive, a floppy disk, a floppy disk drive (FDD),magnetic tape, a holographic storage medium, a solid-state drive (SSD),a RAM-drive, a SECURE DIGITAL card, a SECURE DIGITAL drive, or anothersuitable computer-readable storage medium or a combination of two ormore of these, where appropriate. Herein, reference to acomputer-readable storage medium excludes any medium that is noteligible for patent protection under 35 U.S.C. §101. Herein, referenceto a computer-readable storage medium excludes transitory forms ofsignal transmission (such as a propagating electrical or electromagneticsignal per se) to the extent that they are not eligible for patentprotection under 35 U.S.C. §101.

This disclosure contemplates one or more computer-readable storage mediaimplementing any suitable storage. In particular embodiments, acomputer-readable storage medium implements one or more portions ofprocessor 402 (such as, for example, one or more internal registers orcaches), one or more portions of memory 404, one or more portions ofstorage 406, or a combination of these, where appropriate. In particularembodiments, a computer-readable storage medium implements RAM or ROM.In particular embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium implementsvolatile or persistent memory. In particular embodiments, one or morecomputer-readable storage media embody software. Herein, reference tosoftware may encompass one or more applications, bytecode, one or morecomputer programs, one or more executables, one or more instructions,logic, machine code, one or more scripts, or source code, and viceversa, where appropriate. In particular embodiments, software includesone or more application programming interfaces (APIs). This disclosurecontemplates any suitable software written or otherwise expressed in anysuitable programming language or combination of programming languages.In particular embodiments, software is expressed as source code orobject code. In particular embodiments, software is expressed in ahigher-level programming language, such as, for example, C, Perl, or asuitable extension thereof. In particular embodiments, software isexpressed in a lower-level programming language, such as assemblylanguage (or machine code). In particular embodiments, software isexpressed in JAVA. In particular embodiments, software is expressed inHyper Text Markup Language (HTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), orother suitable markup language.

The present disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions,variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodimentsherein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend.Similarly, where appropriate, the appended claims encompass all changes,substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the exampleembodiments herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art wouldcomprehend.

1. A method comprising in response to a scroll or resize eventassociated with a client application rendering a structured document ina graphical user interface, determining whether one or more place markerelements in the structured document is viewable within the graphicaluser interface, wherein each place marker element includes a fixed sizeand is an element rendered by the client application within the contextof the structured document; and if the one or more place marker elementsis viewable, dynamically modifying the structured document to cause theclient application to retrieve data objects corresponding to the placemarker elements from one or more remote hosts and load the data objectsinto the structured document.
 2. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising registering a handler function with a client application forscroll or resize events.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the structureddocument is an HTML document and wherein the place marker elements areHTML <div> elements.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the structureddocument is an HTML document and wherein the place marker elements areincluded in elements of a table.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein thedetermining whether a select place marker element in the structureddocument is viewable within the graphical user interface is delayed by aprescribed period of time after the scroll or resize event.
 6. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the dynamically modifying the structureddocument comprises setting respective source attributes of apredetermined set of place marker elements to uniform resource locatorsof a corresponding data object.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein thedynamically modifying the structured document comprises settingrespective source attributes of a predetermined set of place markerelements to load the corresponding data object as a background image. 8.A non-transitory storage medium comprising executable instructionsoperative, when executed, to cause a processor to: in response to ascroll or resize event associated with a client application rendering astructured document in a graphical user interface, determine whether oneor more place marker elements in the structured document is viewablewithin the graphical user interface, wherein each place marker elementincludes a fixed size and is an element rendered by the clientapplication within the context of the structured document; and if theone or more place marker elements is viewable, dynamically modify thestructured document to cause the client application to retrieve dataobjects corresponding to the place marker elements from one or moreremote hosts and load the data objects into the structured document. 9.The non-transitory storage medium of claim 8 further comprisinginstructions operative to cause the processor to register a handlerfunction with the client application for scroll or resize events. 10.The non-transitory storage medium of claim 8 wherein the structureddocument is an HTML document and wherein the place marker elements areHTML <div> elements.
 11. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 8wherein the structured document is an HTML document and wherein theplace marker elements are included in elements of a table.
 12. Thenon-transitory storage medium of claim 8 further comprising instructionsoperative to cause the processor to delay by a prescribed period of timeafter the scroll or resize event the determining whether a select placemarker element in the structured document is viewable within thegraphical user interface.
 13. The non-transitory storage medium of claim8, wherein to dynamically modify the structured document, the mediumfurther comprises instructions operative to cause the processor to setrespective source attributes of a predetermined set of place markerelements to uniform resource locators of a corresponding data object.14. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 8, wherein to dynamicallymodify the structured document, the medium further comprisesinstructions operative to cause the processor to set respective sourceattributes of a predetermined set of place marker elements to load thecorresponding data object as a background image.
 15. An apparatuscomprising: a memory, one or more processors; computer program codecomprising executable instructions operable, when executed, to cause theone or more processors to: receive a request from a client applicationfor a structured document including a plurality of embedded objects;transmit a response including the structured document, wherein thestructured document comprises code operative to cause the clientapplication to initially retrieve and render a subset of the pluralityof embedded objects, one or more place marker elements corresponding toa second subset of the plurality of embedded objects, wherein each placemarker element includes a fixed size and is an element rendered by theclient application within the context of the structured document, and anexecutable code object operative with the context of the clientapplication and when executed by the client application operative to: inresponse to a scroll or resize event associated with a clientapplication, determine whether one or more place marker elements in thestructured document is viewable within the graphical user interface; andif the one or more place marker elements is viewable, dynamicallymodifying the structured document to cause the client application toretrieve the data objects from one or more remote hosts and load dataobjects corresponding to the place marker elements into the structureddocument.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the executable codeobject of the structured document is operative to register a handlerfunction with the client application for scroll or resize events. 17.The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the structured document is an HTMLdocument and wherein the place marker elements are HTML <div> elements.18. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the structured document is an HTMLdocument and wherein the place marker elements are included in elementsof a table.
 19. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the executable codeobject of the structured document is operative to delay by a prescribedperiod of time after the scroll or resize event the determining whethera select place marker element in the structured document is viewablewithin the graphical user interface.
 20. The apparatus of claim 15,wherein to dynamically modify the structured document, wherein theexecutable code object of the structured document is operative to setrespective source attributes of a predetermined set of place markerelements to load the corresponding data object as a background image.